Printers with an automatic cutter are used in many fields, including sales and distribution. Such printers produce slips by printing information on continuous recording paper and then cutting the recording paper to a specific length. The automatic cutter is located at the downstream end of the conveyance path leading past the printing position to the paper exit. The cut recording paper (slip) is then discharged from the paper exit. The automatic cutter is typically a scissor type that causes a movable knife to pivot to and away from a fixed knife, or a type that moves the movable knife to and away from the fixed knife in a reciprocating linear motion.
These printers include printers that have the automatic cutter disposed near the paper exit and hold the cut slip temporarily at the paper exit for the operator to remove and hand to the customer. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2004-268207. Printers that have a conveyance unit that conveys the cut slip and discharges the slip from the printer by means of the conveyance unit are also known. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2001-113495.
However, if the operator forgets to remove the slip from the printer taught in JP-A-2004-268207, slips left in the paper exit gradually accumulate. As slips accumulate, the slips may interfere with the cutting edge of the movable knife, resulting in improper cutting or the accumulated slips being cut again, producing small slivers of paper, and printer operation may be adversely affected.
A problem with the printer having a continuous paper cutter mechanism described in JP-A-2001-113495 is that use of a conveyance unit for the cut slips complicates printer construction and increases printer size.